1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to headphones. More specifically, this invention relates to headphones that can be tuned acoustically by the user.
2. Description of Related Art
Headphones are commonly used to listen to audio signals such as voice communications, audio recordings, and music. Headphones generally comprises of a flexible headband that is placed over the head of a listener. On either sides of the flexible headband is affixed a speaker housing enclosing one or more speakers. The speaker housing commonly has a soft and flexible ear pad which enables the speaker housing to comfortably rest on or around the listener's ear. The flexible headband exerts a force that urges the speaker housings to press against the ear pads which in turn presses on or around the ear of the listener to seal out the outside environment from the ear.
Most headphone's acoustics are predetermined and fixed when the headphone was designed and manufactured. The user may generally vary the audio signal electronically by using a separate equalizer or other electronic adjustments to vary the various high and low frequencies. However, the acoustics of the headphones itself is generally not adjustable by the user.
There are some headphone designs that include complex and costly components to enable the user to adjust the frequency response of the headphones. These headphone designs use many small, complex, and movable components in their design to allow the user to vary the frequency response of the headphones. Although they are suitable for the purpose for which they were designed, they are expensive to manufacture and the complexity of the design also decrease the reliability of the headphones. The cost of these headphones and also the complexity of their design contributed to their lack of demand and the lack of popularity in the market.